Was Obama's expansive praise for Summers just a feint?

[CTyankee]

Sometimes I wonder if I just have a bent mind, but I got a little suspicious at BHO's over the top praise for Larry Summers. A little red flag of real doubt flared in my mind: he's flattering Summers to soften the blow of choosing Yellen.

Am I just crazy?

I guess we'll soon find out...then if I'm wrong I'll look silly, but it was just my passing hunch...oh, well...

[geek tragedy]

1. The Official Rule of DU regarding what Obama says:

If Obama says something that matches your preconceived notions of him, then it is revealing of his intent and character. If it contradicts your preconceived notions of him, talk is cheap and can be summarily disregarded.

[CTyankee]

2. Oh, I know. But what Obama said was kinda "fulsome" in the real meaning of the term...

didn't BHO have really great things to say about Susan Rice before Kerry got SOS?

[geek tragedy]

3. Could be either. Shows Obama likes Summers, which we already knew to be a sad truth nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. Can I edit that to be a little more accurate? …

(It’ll be in keeping with something you wrote earlier)

If Obama says something CONSISTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN CRITICAL of him, then it is revealing of his intent and character. If it contradicts something YOU HAVE BEEN CRITICAL of him FOR, talk is cheap and can be summarily disregarded.

[elleng]

4. Sure as heck hope so, yank!

Had to say nice things, for summers and others, before the REAL wise one gets the job!

[Cali_Democrat]

5. Here's what I think....

I think this is similar to the Susan Rice situation. He defends people who have had his back. He defends them against what he thinks are innuendo and false allegations. That doesn't mean he will appoint them to those positions, it just that Obama isn't one to throw his people under the bus, especially when they may serve in other capacities.

[Cali_Democrat]

6. BTW...Wall Street doesn't want Summers, they want Yellen

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100917426

[CTyankee]

8. A real possibility, IMO...

[Arkana]

7. No. I've heard reports that Obama actually does like Summers that much.

Whether he likes him enough to override the Senate's objections and send Summers to the floor for confirmation, however, is another story.

[CTyankee]

9. Well, it goes to my point. If Obama felt he couldn't appoint Summers, he might have felt he owed

him some praise...hence, my "susan rice" reference...

[magical thyme]

10. floating a trial balloon...he does this with every appointment

he floats a trial balloon. It fails. He floats another one. And another one. Finally sticks us with a less-known clone of the first unacceptable candidate.

[CTyankee]

11. Paul Krugman thinks well of her altho he doesn'r really hate Summers or is ambivalent

(I can't divine which in his blogs...it's a mystery...). But he agrees that the WSJ has a strange misogynist bent
against a WOMAN in that position...he reveals the misogyny in his blogs recently...it's a sad thing but so entirely predictable...

[magical thyme]

16. If Krugman thinks well of her, then maybe Obama and the 1%ers have figured out

that their attempted "fix" of the economy by strictly monetary action to bail out the banksters is a failure, was doomed to fair from the start and is the wrong "treatment" for the problem.

I'm not following it closely, so I don't know what economic theory she follows. Just know that Obama has a track record of floating trial balloons and more often than not, we end up with a clone of the original.

To be fair, sometimes that works well. So many were devastated that Warren didn't get picked, but we ended up with her clone at the head of her Consumer agency and Warren in the senate.

[CTyankee]

21. She did have the best track record on the Fed Board of successes vs. failures...so that is a good

sign. I just felt that he was trying a bit too hard to be nice to Summers for it to be the pick...but I dunno...I have been pretty spectacularly bad in my earlier predictions so...

[Fumesucker]

12. There are some even more bent than you

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023342196#post12

[CTyankee]

13. well, I'm not posting this as a screed against Obama, really.

I hope I can be a little more rational about it than that. I was talking about my weird way of looking at what someone is saying and seeing in it a strange contradiction...strange in the way it sits in my brain as I think about it...I certainly don't have hallucinations about the guy...

[Fumesucker]

15. No, I agree with you

That post was me talking about eleven dimensional chess in regard to Summers and Yellen on the 25th.

[burnodo]

14. why not just support and praise Yellen?

if it's a feint, exactly who is he feinting for?

[Fumesucker]

17. You herd cats by giving them something to run away from

The spray bottle for instance.

Summers is a particularly large and vile spray bottle to herd the liberal cats toward Yellen.

[burnodo]

18. for what purpose?

are liberals in support of Summers? That's not what I heard.

[Fumesucker]

19. That doesn't mean that liberals support Yellen either

If your spouse is complaining about Italian for dinner again and you offer tire rims and anthrax as an alternative suddenly Italian looks a lot better choice.

[burnodo]

20. But again, who is he trying to win over by threatening Summers?

[Fumesucker]

26. Those who might not like Yellen but loathe Summers

I'm guessing they're likely to be of the more liberal persuasion.

[CTyankee]

23. My guess is that he doesn't want to totally alienate Summers and he probablylikes

some of what he has said/written. As I said, trying to soften the blow...

but what do I know?

[burnodo]

24. soften the blow for Summers?

is he some kind of viceroy?

I have to disagree with you. I think Obama would rather have Summers. I think its elements of the left screaming bloody murder that's even making him hesitate.

[CTyankee]

25. Yes. The left screamed bloody murder, Obama relented and now he will appoint Yellen and must

placate Summers. That was my bent mind at work...

[burnodo]

27. not so bent at all

[CTyankee]

28. we'll see. I'm not that confident I am right...

[KittyWampus]

22. He seems to praise everyone.

[matthews]

29. Is Penny Pritzger (sp) really Commerce Secretary? Who the hell knows anymore

I just know I don't believe a thing he says or anything someone says he says.

Wading in BS hip-high through 2 campaigns taught me a lesson.

[karynnj]

30. Coud be that he hates that any potential nominee gets smeared by

those preferring someone else. (Just for the record I hope it is NOT Summers and think many objections are valid) In fact, a close parallel is that Obama strongly defended Rice at a point where he very likely had already decided on Kerry or was at least leaning to him. I thought then that the defense of someone for things she did working for him was actually MORE needed if he was not likely to pick her. If he were likely to pick her, he has a huge platform in his announcement to obliquely defend her.

Not to mention, it would be historic to nominate the first female Fed boss.